Extreme Knitter

Originally published Tuesday, April 15, 2008

I have never thought of myself as an extremist. I’m just a simple (some would say simple-minded, lol) small-town girl from West Virginia. True, my politics are just barely to the right of unadulterated socialism, hence the name Pinkoknitter. Some might deem that extreme, but in the grand scheme of things, democratic socialism is a pretty mainstream view, at least outside of the United States.

Some folks might regard my lack of religious faith as extreme, but once again, a lack of religious faith is a pretty mainstream view in, say, all of Western Europe and a lot of Asia. Nothing extreme there.

The constitution of the United States says that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” In other words, we are all equal under the law. To me, this means that same-sex couples should be granted the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples, including marriage. Marriage, after all, is a government sanctioned legal contract between two consenting adults that deals primarily with property rights and other legalities. It’s a no-brainer. If our society is truly founded upon the principle of equality under the law, it logically follows that committed same-sex couples should be entitled to the same spousal rights as opposite-sex couples. To deny equal protection to someone based upon his or her sex, race, religion, or national origin is not only unconstitutional, it is simply wrong. Nothing extreme in this view.

But in knitting circles, I live on the edge. I proudly admit it. I’m an extreme knitter. I knit lace shawls without putting in lifelines. Many lace knitters insist that lifelines are an absolute necessity and that any knitter who doesn’t use them is playing with fire. Baloney! I’ve tried lifelines and they are a royal pain in the ass and way more trouble than they are worth. See my Orkney Pi?

There are now 1,280 stitches in each round now. Do you see a lifeline anywhere? Heck, no. Lifelines are for wusses. ☺

I prefer to knit without a safety net. There are circumstances in which even a daredevil knitter such as I would use lifelines. For example, when knitting with a very slippery yarn, a dropped stitch could be a disaster since it would be likely to run like the wind. But I rarely knit with slippery yarns. Wool yarn simply doesn’t run away. It is the nature of wool to stick to itself. So a dropped stitch isn’t such a big deal.

So, there you have it. I throw caution to the wind and knit lace without the crutch of lifelines. I’m an extreme knitter and proud of it.

P.S. The pictures at the top of the entry is my Queen Anne’s Lace shawl. Note that there are no lifelines. I don’t need no stinking lifelines. ☺